Corey Graves welcomed Edge to his “After The Bell” podcast this week. Graves also gave his thoughts on the Royal Rumble, the Women’s Tag Team division, and more.
Here are some highlights:
Graves gave his opinion on the WWE Women’s Tag Team Division:
“I don’t mean this as any disrespect to any of the women on RAW or SmackDown that compete for the Women’s Tag Team Championships. I feel like the lack of legitimate tag teams is what’s killing that division. You have people that show up randomly that want a match and now they’re a team. You’ve got Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke who are about the closest thing to a legitimate team. You’ve got Nia and Shayna that have grown into that role, but it’s just been a bunch of mashups of two random people competing for the championships and I feel like it’s just never really allowed that division to shine and become a focus like I know it’s capable of just like the men’s tag team championships. They should be viewed on that same ground, but I find it hard to believe that it’s going to achieve those heights until you have more legitimate teams holding the championships.”
Edge was asked which champion does he want to face and why?
“I look at all three of those talents and I love what they’re doing. I love the level they are on and the cylinders that they are firing on, all in different ways. I look at Drew McIntyre and I look at the type of story. It’s about respect. It’s about taking a similar road. It’s about the fact that when I was world champion, Drew was trying to find his way. I tried to help him through some of those times. Leaving and coming back and fighting through all of these things and respecting the man he’s become. So there’s that story.
Then there’s a guy like Balor who I’ve never laid hands on. I’ve never been in the same place at the same time. I see what he’s doing in the ring and the way he is wrestling and he is making everything earned. You have to fight to get it in terms of a match. That’s extremely appealing because that’s the kind of wrestling I want to do. I want to go back to Nick Bockwinkle and Terry Funk and All Japan with a modern twist. He’s a guy that is doing that. I told him that after TakeOver Portland against Gargano. I said, ‘That right there dude, that’s the template.’ That’s the guy. I knew it was in there, but that’s the guy. Each time I see him, it’s ever more prevalent.
Then I look at Reigns. I truly look at this generational thing. This guy, who is finally, I think, allowed to be what he is. The handcuffs are off. Everyone realized we need to just let him do what he can do. He is like Randy in that when you get those second and third generation talents, they do things that they don’t even know. It’s just instinctual because it’s in their DNA. They don’t have to think about it. I have to think about it. I see Reigns and I see the layers with Heyman and what they’re doing. It’s such a great character that has so much real in it. That’s exciting to me. If you start looking into the parallels, he used to come through the crowd. He came in the Shield as a three-man group. He uses the spear.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit After The Bell with Corey Graves with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription
